Surfer honored with Carnegie Medal for rescue effort

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Surfer Receives Carnegie Medal For Heroism In Rescue Effort

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 17 May, 2006 : - - A Destin surfer who tried to save a 14-year-old girl from a shark last June was honored Thursday with a Carnegie Medal for heroism.

Jack Timothy Dicus, 54, of Destin, was among 16 people honored by the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, which meets five times annually to heroes who are brought to its attention through newspaper clips or tips to its Web site.

Dicus and Christopher White, 23, of Carrollton, Ga., on June 25, 2005, tried to rescue Jamie Daigle, 14, from an attacking shark near Sandestin. Dicus, surfing nearby, pulled Daigle onto White?s rafts and fended the 6- to 8-foot bull shark off as the two men paddled toward the shore.

Daigle, from Gonzales, La., and a friend were on a boogie board more than 150 yards offshore when the attack occurred. Daigle died at the scene of her injuries. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie started the hero fund in 1904 after being inspired by rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. Recipients of the award, or their survivors, get a bronze medal and $4,000.

Since the fund was established, 8,997 people have received medals and $28.6 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits and continuing assistance.

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